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hitherto been employed to carve the statues in the Loggia della Mercanzia, 1 was relieved of all further duty there; and the two remaining ones were allotted to Yecchietta (April 1460), “in order that he might have something to keep him busy in Sienna, which he was tempted, nay had determined, to leave 7 ’. 2 He was consoled further by orders for frescos in the public Palace, and we still pos sess that of S. Catherine, at the side of the entrance lead ing from the great hall to the chapel: 3 and part of a large Virgin of Mercy, lately recovered from white-wash, in a room called “Sala dell’ ajuto Bilanciere”. S. Ber nardino, and S. Martin on horseback, sharing his cloak with the beggar, stand in the spandrils of an arched re cess, in the centre of which the Virgin holds the infant Saviour, and angels support the cloak which covers the people of Sienna. SS. Savino, Jerom, Peter, Catherine, Lawrence, Ansano, attend to the right and left. Seraphs, sixteen in number, sing in the space between SS. Martin and Bernardino, and two messengers of heaven suspend the crown over the Virgin. Her head, and dress, and other parts of the fresco are renewed, the 'nimbuses are stamped and cut out with the exquisite care which marks those of Simone Martini, but the defects of Vecchietta are perfectly apparent, in spite of a family likeness in some parts to Sassetta or Sano di Pietro. In 1462, Lorenzo had completed the statues of the Loggia della Mercanzia, both of which present to the spectator the disproportioned and decrepid forms conspi cuous already at an earlier time. Nor does Vecchietta fail to lay stress on the versatility of his own talents, and whilst he signs himself in thePienza picture “sculptor”, he inscribes his carved work with the words: “Opus Laurentii pictoris Senensis. 4 * A recumbent image of 1 Now Casino de’ Nobili at Sienna. 2 Doc. Sen. II. 311. 3 The S. Catherine was painted in 1460 (Doc. Sen. II. 370), and is signed: “29.Junii 1461, Opus Lau rentii Petri Senens." The S. Ber nardino, close by at the other side of the door, only bears the muti lated date M.CCCCL ...., and is more in the style of Sano di Pietro. 4 Vecchietta received 1000 lire
